Kingdom Hearts: Destined For Nothing
by TwoAcross106
Summary: Over a decade ago, Radiant Garden fell to the Darkness. Rook was able to survive the Garden's fall thanks to the sacrifice of those who loved him most, and he has lived in the wastelands of the world since. But when the worlds starts to reach out to him, will let himself be brought back to it? Post-KH3 story. Comments/reviews welcome.
1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

Chapter 0 : Prologue

_I've seen it all. I was here. When it fell. When it was silent. When it burned. When it came back. I've seen it all from here. From my little home out in the canyons. _

_They call it the Great Maw now. That's what they call my home. The people who live over there in the city. The ones who came back._

_I like that they are all the way over there. And I'm all the way out here._

Orange-tinted clouds hung low in a purple-hued sky. Hints of blue slid out from underneath them like the light that peeked out from under a gigantic door frame. But Rook wasn't worried about the heat just yet. The azurite colored stones that made up the world's craggy surface kept their nightly cool for hours after the sun came up.

Scraggly bright red hair was shoved away from his face by the knuckles on the back of his hand, and he hefted what looked to be a long old window curtain- grey-brown in color, torn and aged- over his shoulders and tucked one side underneath the draped half which fell down the opposite shoulder, turning into a makeshift cloak.

It wasn't long past mid-morning and his eyes were still full of sleep. In the same sweep of his eyes he focused westwards towards the greater body of the canyons and the winding caverns that lead back in a northerly direction to the town. His eye twitched. He didn't like it. He had become accustomed to the two castles which reached upwards from the horizons. And he was beginning to become less accustomed to the waves of beady-eyed Heartless which marched between the two. Ever since a year or two ago when everyone came out of the city to fight what had to be thousands of them.

He remembered the loud explosions which sounded the invasion. And that kid… spikey hair. Comically-shaped weapon. From atop his perch here, it almost looked like a key. He'd laughed about it ever since. Rook sincerely thought it was a key. How silly.

Every memory of that day panged him with sadness and frustration and anger and loneliness. And any other volume of emotions that turned him into a molotov cocktail of guilt.

'_Stop it,'_ he scolded himself, tucking further back into his ratty cape as though using it to hide from the world. He looked back to the north as his hidden hands fiddled with a small box hidden behind the cloak. "Radiant Garden". What a name. Nothing but bad memories, that. Nothing "radiant" about it. No. Rook liked "the Great Maw" better. It fit.

This world ate things.


	2. Chapter 1 - A Lonely Hill On The Plain

Chapter 1 : A Lonely Hill On The Plain

"How's the airship spinning up, Cid?"

Leon braced his gunblade against his back and held his free hand to his brow to keep the light from his eyes. The hanger itself was only recently finished and he dreaded the thought of this contraption of Cid's either taking off or landing. There's just no room, he'd say just before Cid would effortlessly maneuver it back to the bay floor.

"Beautiful day for a run, I'd say!" Cid's head popped out from behind the frame of the entrance ramp's door. He flicked at the toothpick held between his lip and teeth as though it were a cigarette then ran a thumb across the curve of his nose. Leon noted that his hair looked unwashed and greasy. The old man had probably stayed up most of the night again, fiddling.

Leon readjusted the hand on his brow to the bridge of his nose and shook his head, silently letting a moment pass. The Radiant Garden Restoration Committee should look more presentable. He'd scold Cid later, he decided- making a note to himself which was more concern for Cid's well-being than anything else.

"Right. Well. Let's get underway then. Ever since Sora took out Old Man Xehanort, the Heartless population on this world seems to have dwindled. I want to make sure we have the space we need to safely expand the city outwards."

Cid nodded back, speaking up over the roar of the engines and spinning propellers, "You got it, chief! Climb on, we're dusting off in just a tick!"

His head disappeared back behind the frame. Three crewmen followed him towards the direction of the cockpit. His "flight team" he called them. What were their names? Leon stopped to think. Biggs, Wedge, and someone else with a name something-less-unique.

He turned his head towards the back of the hanger, which joined into the western side of the castle. A white lab coat and half a face. "Morning Ienzo," Leon upnodded once. "What can I do for you?"

Ienzo stopped short of him, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Just following up on something our analysis picked up last night. The Master was hoping you might be able to take a passover of the western ridges of the Maw. He and Even stumbled upon an… _unusual _reading last night, and would like your eyes on it."

Leon nodded again. "Got a map?"

Ienzo spent a moment deciding he was serious before letting out a quick chuckle. "Ah, no. We've already sent the approximate coordinates to the computer on the ship.

Leon closed his eyes for a brief moment. "Everything has one nowadays. Even your pocket." He waved a salute of a farewell as he started up the ramp, gunblade bouncing off his shoulder with every step.

Ienzo's smile faded. His eyes drifted downward to his lab coat pocket and the gummiphone within it. He didn't use it much anymore. Not since Sora had put an end to the True Organization.. And then after... He spun slowly on his heel, and returned to the stairwell which joined the hanger to the castle without another word.

Leon approached the cockpit. Cid was already at the helm, with his flight crew at their stations.

"I swear to god, if you run this thing into a ravine wall…"

Cid grinned broadly, "You kiddin'!? I'm the best pilot this world's got!"

"You're the only pil-..!"

The engines spun up, causing the entirety of the craft to shudder. Leon grasped to the back of his seat to keep steady and took a quick stock of the surroundings to make sure the ship hadn't shaken apart. It seemed fine so far…

"Take a breath, Leon!" Cid brushed his thumb across his nose. "This thing's sturdy and she'll fly us right! At any rate, it isn't like we're gonna be out long. Just a fly-by a few miles out to the West and right back for lunch. I asked Aerith and Yuffie to snag us some of Scrooge's new lunch items. Apparently Twilight Town was goin' NUTS for it!"

Leon didn't answer for a moment. Technology on this world was advanced enough. But he didn't put much trust in something this size and its ability to stay in the air. He much preferred his own two feet and his own two hands. "Sure. Let's just get out there and see what Ansem the Wise is curious about."

Rook pulled the small box from his cloak and opened the top, pulling out a deck of playing cards and shuffling them in his hands. He usually kept this sort of thing for the nighttime, to help him sleep.

His shoulders still ached from the evening before and he gingerly traced his fingers along a scar that spanned from shoulder-to-shoulder directly across his chest. Partly exposed at the ends by the sleeveless blue vest he wore over a blood red shirt with just as many sleeves, he noticed long ago that it ached after a confrontation with Heartless. Psychosomatic, assuredly- although he didn't know the word for it.

Fanning the cards out in an arc as a tic of his nervous habit, he closed his eyes for but a moment and recalled the previous evening…

A scattering beneath the ridge outside his shanty lean-to was usually indicative of a Heartless pack scouring the cliffs. Wandering aimlessly unless headed towards the Garden directly. He was surprised to see them moving with purpose away from it. It'd been a while since he'd seen them heading south… which allowed curiosity to take his wits from him.

One step too close to the ledge later, and the bits of cliffside which gave way from underneath his weight alerted them to his position. It'd been a week since his last scuffle with a Shadow, and he was glad to have set a new record. But, he'd reasoned, they had seen too much.

Leaping the two stories downward directly onto one's bulbous head, crushing it into the blue stone of the Maw's pathway below it, he recalled how quickly the second one was in the air to slash at him and how lucky he was to have been falling. He had heard the claws cut the air just above him instead of his face. It was quickly dealt with as well, with Rook laying it low with a heavy punch to what doubled as its sternum before it faded back to the Darkness for the time being.

And that was when things went wrong.

A rumbling- low and steady before the young man began to fear the whole canyon may feel it… and then a tall looming shadow.

A Darkside.

Wispy shadow-like dreadlocks fell about its shoulders and face, obstructing partially all but the glaring yellow eyes in its head. The build of its body- all of it, once it had fully formed- was as tall as the cliff above where Rook's tiny little shack of a homestead stood.

He stopped cold.

'_Please, no,'_ he mumbled. He didn't remember if it was in his head, or if he had found the voice to speak the words. He doubted the latter. He was too paralyzed by the memory.

Until he ran. Silent, resilient, Rook, never one to avoid a fight against a Heartless after what he saw them do all those years ago. He ran and he was both ashamed and better off for it.

The rumbling gathered again, and Rook had enough experience out here among the crags that he knew what _that _meant- it was about to attack. And he'd be lucky to survive the first swipe, let alone whatever followed.

His mind raced. Life flashing before his mind's eye; a home, a family, a friend, a dark night alone, hiding scared, no more friend, wandering from town, the Maw, this morning, the Heartless below him.

And then now.

He stopped. A toe dug into the grit beneath his worn old boot.

He didn't live this long just to go out running.

And he would go out fighting, even if it was fighting dumb.

He turned slowly, not opening his eyes- tear-ridden at the sight of the lumbering giant now before him. Not until he held a hand to his chest. And it happened. It always happened. And this was why he knew he was meant for more than to just die on this rocky cliff path.

'_Warm thoughts, now,' _He focused. There wasn't much time now. '_My parents. Birthdays. The flowers from the town square. Eden.'_

The thoughts swelled in his mind and in his heart. Happy memories. Positive thoughts. '_Focus now, you're almost there!'_

Now!

A bright yellow-white light glinted against the falling sun as it emanated from his own heart. With a fist, it was pulled to his hand. He gripped it tight, and opened his eyes.

The Darkside towered over him, hand slowly raised to its tallest height and ready to swipe at him.

Not today.

He spread his feet to balance and steady himself, one hand bracing the back of the other which now glowed with a building brightness, and he took a breath.

"Guard Light!"

At his urging and upon his plea, the light fired forth in a ray. A yellow-white column of whatever it was he contained within him. It powered forward and slammed into the chest of the Darkside Heartless, knocking its hand from the sky as the bulk of the beast lurched backwards and fell.

As it hit the cliffside- causing another short tremor- it stopped moving. A new hole in its torso, its weight pulled it off of the path they stood upon and it plummeted to the lower layers of the Maw's floor.

Rook lowered his hand. Residual light smoked from between his spread-wide fingers before the breathlessness took him. He fell backwards onto his read, breathing heavy. He wasn't sure about much of what it was he just did. But he did know this; it couldn't just happen- it was fueled. And when he used it, it tuckered him out. Beyond this, he didn't much care. It had kept him alive a dozen or two times now. But this was certainly the largest Heartless he had used it against- let alone beat!

He let out a sharp exhale of a chuckle. That was a Darkside! WAS a Darkside!

Gods, Eden would have been so proud. He closed his eyes.

And then opened them again. He looked down at his hand, hands on his cards. That was last night. This was now. And he was still tender, and still recovering his strength.

With his deck of 49 cards, he began to arrange himself a game of solitaire he knew he'd never win. But at least it seemed to be a quiet day starting out. He could use it after last night-...

Rook looked up, eyes darting about. They widened as he climbed to his feet, scrambling to gather the cards. Something was coming.

A low rumble. Again. Another Darkside. He knew it. He _was_ going to die on this rock.

A moment passed. And his brow furled. That was no rumble. It was a humming. A buzzing.

He stopped looking to his sides. It wasn't the ground that was shaking. It was the air. The hell kind of Heartless-...

And then it was there. The largest anything he had ever seen Moving in from above. He put his hand to his chest again. Just in case.

"There! The top of that ridge!" Leon hoisted his gunblade to his side as he squinted one eye against the natural light on the other side of the cockpit's glass windows. "What is that..? A shack?"

Cid shook his head. "Out here? No way! Nothin' but Heartless been out this way in years!"

Leon stepped closer to the window. It was definitely some sort of structure. And something nearby. It came clearer as the airship approached, but it wasn't until it sprung to its feet that he knew what he was looking at. His squinted eye contorted into an alarmed and confused glare. He spun away from the window and sprinted past the older pilot. "Then why the hell is there a kid out here with it?"

The urgency to his voice was all Cid needed to hear to know that Leon was about to make some damned-fool decision. "Jesse! Biggs! Hard stop! Lower us a bit and park 'er here!"

Sure enough, Leon was already at the ship's bay doors. The rampway had only barely begun to open when he'd leapt from the ship. Landing below it as though it were a step off the front porch, he brought his gunblade to bear, every bit the hero of the Garden the people thought he was.

He checked the cliffside. No Heartless. Not yet. And he lowered his weapon only a few degrees, before looking back towards the scraggly redhead before him.

"Are you hurt?" Leon tried to speak above the roar of the engines overhead.

No answer. Just a startled look and an emotionless gaze.

"I SAID ARE YOU HURT?" Louder and slower.

He stepped closer but immediately halted when the boy took a step back. Startled and cornered, he figured.

Leon rose his hand to his face to keep the wind of the airship from him and opened his mouth to speak again before he halted entirely.

The boy leapt to the ground, hitting the dirt and scrambling to pick up-... what were those? Cards? He could hear muted cries and pleas. "No, no, no!" and the sort. He noted the boy's angry look back up to the airship as he finished gathering up the deck and held them close to his mass.

He was protecting them.

Leon took another step closer, the hand sinking from his face in order to make a gesture of no-ill-intent. "My name's Leon!" He waited a beat to make sure the boy had heard him. The now-irritated gaze of the stranger told him he had. "I'm from the Restoration Committee!" Another slow step forward. The boy wasn't retreating now. Good.

Leon eyed the structure behind them. It was literally just a half-sheet of metal, and three walls made of mostly rock and debris. A nest of cloth and clothing made up what he assumed was a bed in the corner of the doorless structure.

"You live here, I take it?"

No response.

Another slow step forward.

"...Are you alright?"

Nothing.

Another step.

"Kid, you gotta give me somethin' here. How long have you been out here?"

Nothi-...

"How long has it been?" The other asked.

Leon sighed in relief. At least he wasn't feral. "Yeah, that's right. How long have you been out-..."

"No, I mean how long has it been since the town fell apart?"

Not much caught Leon off-guard these days. His monotone temperament didn't betray when much did anyway. But he felt his shoulders sag low as he pondered the meaning of the question. "Since… Radiant Garden fell-..?" He paled. "Kid, it's been over ten years… you can't seriously be implying you've been out here since the Heartless-..."

He shook his head. Impossible. Some kid, alone, out here, in the midst of the Heartless. No.

"Listen," he asked, "Are you hurt? Why don't you come get on the airship, we'll get you back and check you out."

A hand raised towards him, palm-out. Leon stammered a bit before committing to watching. The boy was holding an open palm out towards him. Was he asking him to stop?

Rook shook his head. One hand still braced the playing cards against his gut and the other was aimed and ready to fire. He didn't care for even a moment that it'd been 12 hours or so since he last fired that light. He wasn't even sure if he could, with as tired as it left him. "I'm not going back there."

Three full seconds later, Leon shook his head, "Kid, you gotta know how dangerous it is out here, right? Believe me, I'm no people person, either. But we have food. Running water- _beds!_ We have houses now. More than we know what to do with, we're still locating survivors from other worlds."

The redhead took a step backwards. "No."

Leon holstered his gunblade for the moment. He raised both hands. "What's your name?"

No answer. Again. Leon flashed an exasperated look.

The redhead tilted his head away from it. "...Rook."

"Got a last name?"

"Probably."

The look grew. "...How old are you?"

Rook did a quick tally. It was easy to lost track of time out here. "Ten years..? Depending on the time of the year? 17 or 18?"

The look faded from Leon's face. "My god, you lived out here all this tim-..?" He sighed, eyes to his brow again. "Anyway… it's March."

"17," Rook answered sharply. "Unless I forgot my math. I'm 17."

"Listen, ki-..."

"I'm not going back."

Leon closed his eyes. This was getting frustrating. He breathed it out and looked back across the 20-foot distance between them. It was only at this time that he was close enough to see the boy's eyes clearly. A hue as blue as his sleeveless vest, and every bit as sad as the color symbolized. He stared for another long moment, before correcting himself.

It was fear.

The frustration turned to sympathy. "You've been through some stuff, haven't you?"

Rook's eyes flickered. No answer to that question. "Why are you even out here?" He nodded towards the ship. "Never seen anything like that. Let alone out here. Never seen anyone out here this far."

Leon nodded. It was a fair question. "Ansem the Wise. He said he pic-..."

"He's dead."

Leon forgave the interruption. "You'd be surprised," he responded, before leaving it at that. "He said he picked up some odd reading out here. Some sort of Light anomaly? Shot across the sky last night. Any ideas what it was."

Rook's open-palmed hand slowly lowered. Leon noticed the almost-comedic sheepishness to it as that hand slowly rejoined the other and began to reshuffle the cards into order.

A guilty sheepishness. Leon let out a single chuckle. "That was you? What in the world was it?"

Rook eyed his hand again. He boxed the cards and stored them back into the pocket of his dark grey pants. He took a moment to contemplate an answer that would explain it all. What came out was, "I don't know."

Leon nodded. "We can help you find out. The castle, it's well-equipped for just this sort-..."

"I'm not going back." Rook's face was not insistant. It was illustrating a line in the sand.

"Fine. Why?"

Rook's face was not illustrating a line in the sand. Now it was the sadness that Leon had thought he had seen earlier. "Because."

Leon could imaging the look on Cid's face when he turned about from the conversation to leave the scraggly teen on the cliffside. He didn't want to let it end that way. But what was his choice? To abduct this kid? He'd been through enough.

He nodded once. "Alright. Rook, wasn't it?" He didn't bother for a confirmation. "It's not safe out here. You know that. And the town isn't just back, it's thriving. You don't know that. Not yet. But I saw this world fall once too. Sometimes, you gotta quit running."

Rook blinked, meeting Leon's eyes for maybe the first time in this conversation.

"Besides? Two things, here?" Leon held up his fingers to illustrate the point. "Whatever that light was? Ansem will want to know more about it. And however you survived out here all this time..?"

Leon shook his head. If nothing else, he was astounded by that fact alone. "Imagine how much whatever you might know about it could help others if it _did_ happen again."

That made a sense, Rook thought. As soon as the idea entered his brain, his eyes clenched shut. He didn't want to go back. Not after that last night. Ten years? Had it really been that long? It had always just seemed like a long string of yesterdays. Over ten years of them.

_Panic outside._

"_They're coming from the castle!"_

"_Ansem The Wise! What did we do to deserve-..."_

"_Get in the house, Corrine! Take Rook!"_

"_What's going on, daddy!"_

"_Stay quiet for me!"_

_Banging outside._

_Scratching at the windows._

_Screams from the courtyard._

_Crying from within the house._

_Mom?_

"_Stay in the light, Rook! Stay out of the shado_

_A scream._

He inhaled sharply.

"Hey… are you alright?"

Rook was shaken from a moment that repeated itself thousands of times in the days since everything fell apart. Leon's hand was upon his shoulder and he was standing just before him. Rook swallowed hard in his dry mouth and nodded. He felt a tear in his eye- not of sadness- and quickly was rid of it on the shoulder of his vest.

"...is it really safe?"

Leon nodded and gave Rook's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "Come and see."


	3. Chapter 2 - Life After The End Of The

Chapter 2 : Life After The End Of The World

Ansem the Wise listened, strolling slowly through the aqueduct walkways beyond the Fountain Court. This conversation had begun at the Gardens and had meandered farther than intended. Leon kept his arms folded in front of his chest as he spoke.

"No, sir. I don't think it was luck at all. Well… not entirely." Leon looked over his shoulder, meeting Dilan's cold gaze as the former Nobody continued his security detail from about eight feet behind them. He looked forward to Ansem once again. "In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to believe that the kid just… I don't know… made it this far? By his own power?"

"And yet," Ansem's deep voice cut the conversation, "We have found as of yet no shortage of remarkable young people with abilities that have had their hands in shaping our worlds. Why should Rook be of any difference?"

Leon shook his head, "Admittedly, there isn't. I'd have thought I got through with being surprised by these kids a while ago, and yet…" He let out a soft sigh, "But a decade? By himself? Sir, come on. He would have been seven years old when Xehanort unleashed the Heart-"

"I recall well enough, Leon."

He nodded, before letting that sentend end itself in half-completion. "Right. I apologize, sir. I know you do."

"And he hasn't spoken up on what happened back then?"

"Just that his family and friends were lost in the initial invasion. And that he's been largely on his own since."

"Largely?"

"He… refused to elaborate. And he refuses to stay another night here. The kid looks like he has PTSD any time he sees a street intersection."

They approached the end of the aqueduct walkway and Ansem took to a post along the railing, looking down below to the people who walked along the newly-completed streets. The flowers were still working on blooming from their freshly laid planters which lined the paths.

"He may not need to. If he does not wish it."

Leon took a half-step forward. He realized as he did he was half-intent on arueging with the world's ruler, but thought better of it as his mouth already hung opened. "Sir? Is that wise? What about the light he emits? How he survived out there? There's a lot we could stand to know, especially about all that untamed wilderness."

"Rook is not a how-to kit, Leon." Ansem closed his eyes and frowned a thoughtful crease against his lips. "I, for one, have had my fair share of trying to dictate the actions of these light-wielding youths."

Leon sighed. He nodded. He had been a faithful aide in the Restoration Committee and would not start questioning their leader now.

"Besides. In the interest of honesty, I've already uncovered what that light is that he wields."

Blinking, Leon perked his head upwards and towards him.

"Aqua, Terra and Ven have been quite instrumental. Even from their own world, they were kind enough to help provide information on how Keyblade wielders train. How they use their powers. Much more reliably than Sora."

A moment of lamentful silence passed between them before Ansem spoke again.

"A wonderful child. I should not speak so ill."

"No, sir. I think Sora was well aware of his own limitations," Leon flashed a rare, and ever-so-slight smile, "He never would have let it stop him, either."

Ansem the Wise nodded once. "Of course. You are right, my friend."

Leon pressed the conversation onward. "So, you were saying? The Wayfinders were about to help with Rook..?"

"Not so actively," Ansem responded. He smiled at a family as they stopped below his position and smelled at the flowers. "But through their provided materials, they did illuminate the matter."

Leon was content to assume that there was no pun intended.

"The wielders of the Keyblade have called it a 'shotlock'."

"I've heard of it," Leon nodded, hands folding again to his chest.

"A Keyblade wielder will have the ability to channel the light- or the darkness- through their Keyblade. Various Keyblades will have various shotlocks, but in fewer words, they are a projectile custom-tailored by the wielder and by the Keyblade."

"But... " Leon furrowed his brow. "He's been here in town the better part of two days now. I've spoken with him- tried to catch him up on what he's missed. I showed Rook a picture of a Keyblade. _Many _of them, in fact. He didn't recognize any of them. He isn't a wielder."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. In either case, he wouldn't be a rare case these days. And his shotlock- or, his 'Guard Light', as he calls it- may not be related. However, he does seem to channel some form of energy through him as a vessel. A Keyblade may help contain or focus it. Without one, this Guard Light is potent, but it wounds him. Leaves him exhausted. It's a poison chalice he holds. And he is not aware of it."

Leon mulled on it for a moment. It stood to reason against all they had known and seen so far. "If not a Keyblade, then… what? Where does it come from?"

"I do not believe the boy to be a font of light by any means. He seems… angry. Sad. He is wounded, and I do fear that were he to be exposed to the Darkness- _true _Darkness-, he may not be able to stand against it. However, his light seems to draw from his memories of his lost loved ones. He uses it to bring the light to bear."

A long moment of silence sat between them. Ansem had finished with this new report. He did not see much more to be learned from this new specimen. Leon did feel somewhat accomplished in that his short conversations with Rook did appear to make it into the old ruler's reporting on him.

"I'll set him up with a gummiphone." Leon stepped beside Ansem and looked down to the paths below them. "He won't stay here? Fine. But at least we can set him up so he isn't as alone…"

He gave it another moment's consideration. "Hey. Do you think Cid and Even or Ienzo would set him up with something like the Claymores?"

The old ruler thought about the idea for a moment. The entire town owed their continued presence on this world to the Claymore defense system. Automated weaponry that targeted non-human enemies. Not particularly powerful on their own, Cid had been tinkering with them since the Committee had returned to this world and started their rebuilding work. The Organization's first strike against the town largely succeeded in part because of the Claymores.

Ienzo and Even's assistance had made them stronger, but the power it took to cover the entire town was substantial. So much so, that the old reactor off the aqueduct had to be repurposed to generate the energy to keep it operational. Cid had never sworn as much as when they had activated the reactor but had to keep the controls in the castle for protection. He was elated to have the other apprentices return so he could keep the walking to a minimum between the two locations.

Ansem shook his head, "Though they keep the Heartless and Nobodies at bay and our people safe within the city limits, we would need to bring much more to Rook to make that possible than I am certain he would like."

"Well. It was a nice thought."

"Indeed… what all have you told him about what he has missed?"

Leon shrugged, "As little as I had to, frankly. Other worlds. Light. Darkness. Heartless and Nobodies. I tried to keep Xehanort's mentions to a minimum, lord knows how confusing that could get. Sora. I guess I'll need to talk to him more about Keyblades now as well."

Ansem the Wise shook his head once again, "This boy has suffered enough, I think. I would like to keep a space here in town set aside should he change his mind and return to us. But even if not, there's no need to threaten him with the life of a warrior."

"Mm. Not sure about that, sir."

Ansem craned his head to meet the eyes of his young company.

"He's no black belt. But he's quick enough and well-versed to best Yuffie. Almost Tifa- but she's too refined."

"Is he starting fights with people?" Ansem frowned.

"Sparring, more so. They were willing participants. And I wanted to see how he used that light of his."

Ansem pulled a hand from his white lab coat and placed it to his chin. "Offer what we can to him. But we will respect his wishes for the time being. I would request we check in on him weekly."

Leon stood to loose attention and nodded once. "As you wish. Cid's new ship will make it easy enough to make the trip… I just have to go find him and let him know he's free to leave."

A pathetic display, Rook imagined he was.

He sat on a corner of a bench in the central square, eying the street which led to what was now called the borough. He recalled the distance from where he stood to where it was.

He had lived not far from here.

He didn't remember too fondly. Just enough. Just flashes.

A child rushed past him. Then two more. Rook recoiled in fear, startled by the noise and the motion.

"_Stay quiet for me!"_

_Screams from the courtyard._

He let out a breath. Too many people. _FAR _too many people! He rubbed his clammy hands against the stomach of his blue vest and closed his eyes to keep his breathing to a steady rhythm and he started away from the square. And far away from the borough.

"Aeleus? Would you like to speak up and provide an update?" Even's icy grin still looked every bit as diabolical as it did when he was a Nobody.

Standing inches higher than the fair-haired Academic, Aeleus silently let cross his face what could only be described as "unspoken disgust", but also did he not stop the apprentice from stepping out into the light of day.

In it, Ienzo was already speaking to Demyx near the top of the stairwell which led to the castle's front doors. The large doors shut tightly and loudly, and Aeleus stood guard before them while the other three convened.

"Word from the King, Demyx?" Ienzo smiled as he approached, his inquisitive tone kept an interest his eyes did not, his pen still working furiously at his notepad as he compiled information on his more recent experiments.

Demyx knew he had his attention. This was too big of a deal! "First I would just like to say- once again- how cool it is of you guys to give me a job-"

"Yes, yes, yes, Demyx," Even cut him off as he strode along to them and stopped hard, his flowing, longer-sleeved lab coat stopping a second after he did as its fabrics remembered to join him. "Have we rea-... I mean, has _Ansem the Wise_ reached an accord with the King?"

Old habits dying hard, Ienzo decided. Even always did have an arrogance about him.

Demyx's jaw went slack, his arms gesturing to the sides, "If you guys would let me talk, you'd know already, jeesh!"

He gave it a moment, assuring himself in the silence that he had his green-light to continue. "Anyway! Yes, the King has agreed to DiZ's tra-"

"Ansem the Wise."

All three of them turned towards Aeleus. He had fallen silent again already, but the correction was already noted.

Demyx continued. "Right. Right-right-right, yea. _Ansem the Wise_. Sorry. Whatever-anyway! The King says that this 'trade deal' Ansem proposed is a go. He's willing to help make some exceptions to that World Order he goes on about to help repair some of the worlds after the last few years' conflicts."

Ienzo cut a line along his notepad with his pen, jotting notes below it on this new topic. "Fantastic! Ansem the Wise will be overjoyed to hear!"

"Yup!" Demyx held aloft a finger, "BUT! Destiny Islands is off limits!"

Even's brows folded inward. "What? But how can that be? They were invaded by the Heartless, as Radiant Garden was! They- they're just some backwater spit of a world! How could they not need help in rebuilding as well?"

Demyx shrugged, "The King said it didn't need it. Never did. Thinks Sora being Ground Zero when it was remade a few years ago undid the damage. Besides. He wants us to leave that world alone. Let it be protected." He raised his voice's pitch, imitating the King as best he could, "Destiny Islands is off-limits, a-hyuck!"

Ienzo's pen-tip bounced off of his head.

"Heeyy! What was that for!?"

"Goofy is the one that makes that noise, you dunce! At any rate, show some respect for his majesty!"

Demyx rubbed the spot the pen had made impact and flashed him a pathetic look, like a scolded puppy who was only moments from trying to chew something he shouldn't again.

Ienzo ignored it, "And Twilight Town?"

Demyx groaned, "I'm just gonna have to explain this again to Ansem the Wise and Leon, will you guys cut me a break?"

Even shoved him by the shoulder, "Ignore that for now, you fool. I have interrupted my studies to help you with the Traverse Town excursion. Merlin has located another of his books and I would like to review its properties."

This was by far the closest Rook had ever been to the castle, in as much as he could remember. The gates were unlocked- something he never recalled seeing when he was still just a child.

All the same, no one would be there. It was always closed off, save for Ansem the Wise and his apprentices while on their strolls, and he was off with Leon at the moment.

He had told Leon he wouldn't stay another night, and he meant it. In his lonely heart, he had wanted to thank him. For the bed, for the clean water, for the food. In the far reaches of his mind, he even wanted to pretend like this new town wasn't so bad. But history would stay that hand. Rook had seen an idyllic village fall before, and though he hoped that Ansem and Leon and whoever else was running this place had learned from the past…

...Well. Rook didn't have that faith.

He stopped next to the gate. He did like the flowers. And much like revisiting an old playground of his youth, the memories of seeing this place alive again warmed him somewhat.

He may not want to live in Radiant Garden again, but he would keep an eye to the north to make sure it stayed around for others.

Rook blinked. Voices? From the top of the stairs, he was sure of it. Ansem? Maybe Leon. Cautiously, he passed through the open gate and began to ascend.

"We won't be long, Demyx," a shrill voice mewled as Rook climbed another step, slowly. Then another. A new voice. Another person. Rook shivered at it.

It continued, "We are picking the book up, and returning here immediately. I' have too much work to be doing for sightseeing."

Another step upwards.

"Probably for the better, benchwarmer-buddy," Demyx teased, as he opened a dark portal with the wave of his gesturing hand, and bowed graciously to let the former-Vexen pass.

"Oh? And why, pray tell, is that?"

Rook took another step and stopped, his head just able to see over the top of the stairs. Two other men; one in a lab coat, purple hair- and another wearing the garb of a royal guard, returned to the castle. Before him, two men in coats- one white and one black- approached a swirling black/purple portal.

He had seen the Heartless utilize them before. And his fist clenched in preparation. Not twice.

"Because," the black-coated stranger spoke as they entered the doorway into darkness, "Traverse Town has its own Heartless problem these days."

Rook's cerulean eyes widened. "No…" His grip clenched tighter.

Leon had told him of the other worlds. Of how this 'Traverse Town' had become a home for the wayward, the survivors and castoffs of other lost worlds.

People like himself.

And this stranger- wearing black- just stepped through a portal made of darkness, headed there.

A "_heartless problem"_, he said.

Atop the stairwell in but a leap and a bound, he charged the portal. It was already closing.

He wouldn't just stand by and let it happen again. He reached for it.

And felt oddly comforted by the coldness of it as he crossed its threshold…

"Rook, wait!"

Leon's voice was the last thing he heard before he vanished, a flash of his panicked blue eye peeked from behind his red hair as Leon and Ansem stepped to the top of the stairs. Leon's hand was outstretched towards him, but it was already too late.

Leon spun about, "Who was that," he asked Ansem the Wise- whose face was equally as concerned. This boy knew nothing of the King's World Order. This would assuredly end badly.

Ansem sighed and furled his mouth around his beard, "Even. And Demyx. The only two of our members here who can travel worlds at will… and the only two who cannot be bothered to keep their gummiphones on their persons."

Shoulders sagging, Leon's face washed with a pained look of frustration. No one would be able to warn them that Rook was traveling with them. And no one could keep him from trouble until it was too late.

In what seemed like a half-second later, Rook spilled out onto a cobblestone street. Lantern-lit, browns and oranges illuminated the world. He climbed to one knee, eyes darting about to gain a sense of surrounding.

He was alone, although the immediate area looked warm and home-like. This world was populated. There was a life to it, even if it was not present. And despite the glow of the lanterns which illuminated the streets, a chill hung in the air.

A darkness resided here.

Climbing to his feet, a soft electric buzzing cut into his ears. A neon side just up the staircase from him. "Accessories", it read.

But yet, no black coat. And no white coat. The two from Radiant Garden were gone.

Rook looked about. A dizzying sense of isolation that he had not felt in ten years set in as he realized that… with no one else around… he was stuck here on this new world. And he had no way to return home.

"Dumb," he muttered aloud as he regarded his situation and the decision that led him here, "It was dumb."

A loud creaking permeated the air. It echoed off of the walls and buildings. So heavily that it took him a moment to realize that it was the sound of a door, whining against its own hinges. It had already shut again by the time he realized it was behind him.

And by the time he spun towards it, he was already aware of of the sound of footsteps approaching him. And was taken aback by the sight.

"Well hello there!"

Rook blinked and tilted his head.

A young girl. A year or two younger than himself, perhaps. He had honestly not expected to see anyone so colorful in a town so drab. Shaggy blonde hair that stuck up on top, a thick tuft that fell upon the middle of her forehead. Icy eyes that smiled as she spoke. Fingerless black gloves that stretched beyond her shoulders. A yellow bodice which covered a black tanktop and white shoulder straps. Heavy boots and dark-colored tights covered her legs, and numerous heavy belts worn over a short skirt broke up the outfit.

She wore a black choker necklace- dangling from it, a golden diamond-shaped jewel. She looked…

...He thought the word was 'happy' for a short moment. But that was not correct. She was 'happy' to see someone else here. But something he could not quite place hid behind her eyes.

Maybe the word was 'relieved'. She was relieved to see someone else.

He decided to rest upon that.

She regarded him curiously for a moment before circling him once. "Must not be from around here. You don't look like the typical Traverse Townie."

He spun about to keep his eyes on her. Look on her face be damned, Rook did not have any reason to like towns nor trust the people in them.

Her survey completed, the blonde girl held out a hand. "My name is Era. What brings you here?"

_To be continued..._


End file.
